Products and processes for managing life instruments

ABSTRACT

Product and processes that comprise receiving a query for a settlement contract that is available for sale. The query is based on at least one field. The settlement contract comprises a sale of a policyholder&#39;s death benefit in a life insurance policy in exchange for money. A first settlement contract that comprises information matching the at least one queried field is retrieved. A plurality of potential purchasers received communication that the first settlement contract is available for purchase. During a pre-determined period of time, a plurality of bids for the first settlement contract is received. Each of the plurality of bids comprises a bid price. It is determined that a first bidder has submitted a best bid price for the settlement contract. The first bidder and the policyholder are notified of an agreement to sell the first settlement contract at the best bid price.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/767,291 filed on Apr. 26, 2010 entitled “Product andProcesses for Managing Life Instruments” which claims priority to Ser.No. 11/550,303 filed on Oct. 17, 2006 (issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,484on Jun. 8, 2010) entitled “Product And Processes For Managing LifeInstruments” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/727,613 entitled “Systems and Methods forElectronically Trading Insurance Policies” filed Oct. 17, 2005; U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/733,639 entitled “Systems andMethods for Electronically Trading Insurance Policies” filed Nov. 4,2005; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/752,261 entitled“Systems and Methods for Electronically Trading Insurance Policies”filed Dec. 19, 2005; U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.60/752,209 entitled “Systems and Methods for Providing ElectronicCalculation of a Conversion of a Lump Sum Life Settlement to/fromPeriodic Payments” filed Dec. 19, 2005; and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/841,269 entitled “Products and Processes forIndicating Documents for a Life Based Product” filed Aug. 30, 2006, thedisclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein as part of thepresent disclosure for purposes of written description and enablementonly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic implementation of a system to buy orsell life settlement contracts in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an illustration, in greater detail, of an electronicimplementation of a system to buy or sell life settlement contracts inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart representing the process of offering asettlement contract for one or more life settlement contracts based onone or more standardized settlement profiles in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart representing the process of forming alife settlement profile in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of a life settlement profile in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a life settlement profile in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an interface for selecting a settlement contract thatmay be presented in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an interface for placing a settlement contract tradein accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an interface for displaying the results of a searchfor settlement profile trading information in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow diagram representing the interactions amongthe parties involved in the electronic settlement trading in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are illustrations of flow diagrams representing theinteractions among purchasers and sellers in the trade and creation oflife settlements in accordance with an embodiment. and

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart representing the process of generatingand querying a profile database in accordance with some embodiments ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following sections I-X provide a guide to interpreting the presentapplication.

Terms

The term “product” means any machine, manufacture and/or composition ofmatter, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “process” means any process, algorithm, method or the like,unless expressly specified otherwise.

Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise)inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a“step” or “steps” of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in themere recitation of the term ‘process’ or a like term. Accordingly, anyreference in a claim to a ‘step’ or ‘steps’ of a process has sufficientantecedent basis.

The term “invention” and the like mean “the one or more inventionsdisclosed in this application”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, “certain embodiments”, “one embodiment”, “anotherembodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments ofthe disclosed invention(s)”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term “variation” of an invention means an embodiment of theinvention, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notimply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with anotherembodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referencedembodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The term “plurality” means “two or more”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The term “herein” means “in the present application, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifies a plurality ofthings (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination ofone or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. Forexample, the phrase “at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel” meanseither (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car,(v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, acar and a wheel. The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifiesa plurality of things does not mean “one of each of” the plurality ofthings.

Numerical terms such as “one”, “two”, etc. when used as cardinal numbersto indicate quantity of something (e.g., one widget, two widgets), meanthe quantity indicated by that numerical term, but do not mean at leastthe quantity indicated by that numerical term. For example, the phrase“one widget” does not mean “at least one widget”, and therefore thephrase “one widget” does not cover, e.g., two widgets.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”. The phrase “based at leaston” is equivalent to the phrase “based at least in part on”.

The term “represent” and like terms are not exclusive, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. For example, the term “represents” do not mean“represents only”, unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words,the phrase “the data represents a credit card number” describes both“the data represents only a credit card number” and “the data representsa credit card number and the data also represents something else”.

The term “whereby” is used herein only to precede a clause or other setof words that express only the intended result, objective or consequenceof something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when theterm “whereby” is used in a claim, the clause or other words that theterm “whereby” modifies do not establish specific further limitations ofthe claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

The term “e.g.” and like terms mean “for example”, and thus does notlimit the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “thecomputer sends data (e.g., instructions, a data structure) over theInternet”, the term “e.g.” explains that “instructions” are an exampleof “data” that the computer may send over the Internet, and alsoexplains that “a data structure” is an example of “data” that thecomputer may send over the Internet. However, both “instructions” and “adata structure” are merely examples of “data”, and other things besides“instructions” and “a data structure” can be “data”.

The term “respective” and like terms mean “taken individually”. Thus iftwo or more things have “respective” characteristics, then each suchthing has its own characteristic, and these characteristics can bedifferent from each other but need not be. For example, the phrase “eachof two machines has a respective function” means that the first suchmachine has a function and the second such machine has a function aswell. The function of the first machine may or may not be the same asthe function of the second machine.

The term “i.e.” and like terms mean “that is”, and thus limits the termor phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence “the computer sendsdata (i.e., instructions) over the Internet”, the term “i.e.” explainsthat “instructions” are the “data” that the computer sends over theInternet.

Any given numerical range shall include whole and fractions of numberswithin the range. For example, the range “1 to 10” shall be interpretedto specifically include whole numbers between 1 and 10 (e.g., 1, 2, 3,4, . . . 9) and non-whole numbers (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, . . . 1.9).

Where two or more terms or phrases are synonymous (e.g., because of anexplicit statement that the terms or phrases are synonymous), instancesof one such term/phrase does not mean instances of another suchterm/phrase must have a different meaning. For example, where astatement renders the meaning of “including” to be synonymous with“including but not limited to”, the mere usage of the phrase “includingbut not limited to” does not mean that the term “including” meanssomething other than “including but not limited to”.

Determining

The term “determining” and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., todetermine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meetsa certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore“determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving,investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database oranother data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining”can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g.,accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” caninclude resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply certainty or absolute precision,and therefore “determining” can include estimating, extrapolating,predicting, guessing and the like.

The term “determining” does not imply that mathematical processing mustbe performed, and does not imply that numerical methods must be used,and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.

The term “determining” does not imply that any particular device must beused. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform thedetermining.

Forms of Sentences

Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as wellas more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as “at least onewidget” covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where ina second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses adefinite article “the” to refer to the limitation (e.g., “the widget”),this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature,and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of thefeature (e.g., “the widget” can cover both one widget and more than onewidget).

When an ordinal number (such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on) isused as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unlessexpressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature,such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature thatis described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a“first widget” may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a“second widget”. Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and“second” before the term “widget” does not indicate any otherrelationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate anyother characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mereusage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or afterany other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widgetoccurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does notindicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as inimportance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbersdoes not define a numerical limit to the features identified with theordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers“first” and “second” before the term “widget” does not indicate thatthere must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device, article or other product is described herein, morethan one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) mayalternatively be used in place of the single device/article that isdescribed. Accordingly, the functionality that is described as beingpossessed by a device may alternatively be possessed by more than onedevice/article (whether or not they cooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device, article or other product isdescribed herein (whether or not they cooperate), a singledevice/article may alternatively be used in place of the more than onedevice or article that is described. For example, a plurality ofcomputer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer-baseddevice. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described asbeing possessed by more than one device or article may alternatively bepossessed by a single device/article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that isdescribed may be alternatively embodied by one or more other deviceswhich are described but are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments need not include thedescribed device itself, but rather can include the one or more otherdevices which would, in those other embodiments, have suchfunctionality/features.

Disclosed Examples and Terminology are not Limiting

Neither the Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of thepresent application) nor the Abstract (set forth at the end of thepresent application) is to be taken as limiting in any way as the scopeof the disclosed invention(s). An Abstract has been included in thisapplication merely because an Abstract of not more than 150 words isrequired under 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b).

The title of the present application and headings of sections providedin the present application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Numerous embodiments are described in the present application, and arepresented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments arenot, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presentlydisclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, asis readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced withvarious modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical,software, and electrical modifications. Although particular features ofthe disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one ormore particular embodiments and/or drawings, it should be understoodthat such features are not limited to usage in the one or moreparticular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they aredescribed, unless expressly specified otherwise.

No embodiment of method steps or product elements described in thepresent application constitutes the invention claimed herein, or isessential to the invention claimed herein, or is coextensive with theinvention claimed herein, except where it is either expressly stated tobe so in this specification or expressly recited in a claim.

All words in every claim have the broadest scope of meaning they wouldhave been given by a person of ordinary skill in the art as of thepriority date. No term used in any claim is specially defined or limitedby this application except where expressly so stated either in thisspecification or in a claim.

The preambles of the claims that follow recite purposes, benefits andpossible uses of the claimed invention only and do not limit the claimedinvention.

The present disclosure is not a literal description of all embodimentsof the invention(s). Also, the present disclosure is not a listing offeatures of the invention(s) which must be present in all embodiments.

Devices that are described as in communication with each other need notbe in continuous communication with each other, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit toeach other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain fromexchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine incommunication with another machine via the Internet may not transmitdata to the other machine for long period of time (e.g. weeks at atime). In addition, devices that are in communication with each othermay communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components or features doesnot imply that all or even any of such components/features are required.On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention(s). Unless otherwise specified explicitly, nocomponent/feature is essential or required.

Although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described orclaimed in a particular sequential order, such processes may beconfigured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence ororder of steps that may be explicitly described or claimed does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder possible. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneouslydespite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously(e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover,the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does notimply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations andmodifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process orany of its steps are necessary to the invention(s), and does not implythat the illustrated process is preferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps,that does not imply that all or any of the steps are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all ofthe described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step isessential or required.

Although a process may be described singly or without reference to otherproducts or methods, in an embodiment the process may interact withother products or methods. For example, such interaction may includelinking one business model to another business model. Such interactionmay be provided to enhance the flexibility or desirability of theprocess.

Although a product may be described as including a plurality ofcomponents, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, thatdoes not indicate that any or all of the plurality are preferred,essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of thedescribed invention(s) include other products that omit some or all ofthe described plurality.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items(which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of theitems are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. For example, the enumerated list “a computer, a laptop, aPDA” does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list aremutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three itemsof that list are comprehensive of any category.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are equivalent to each other orreadily substituted for each other.

All embodiments are illustrative, and do not imply that the invention orany embodiments were made or performed, as the case may be.

Computing

It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g.,appropriately programmed general purpose computers, special purposecomputers and computing devices. Typically a processor (e.g., one ormore microprocessors, one or more microcontrollers, one or more digitalsignal processors) will receive instructions (e.g., from a memory orlike device), and execute those instructions, thereby performing one ormore processes defined by those instructions.

A “processor” means one or more microprocessors, central processingunits (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, or like devices or any combination thereof.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of anapparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs theprocess can include, e.g., a processor and those input devices andoutput devices that are appropriate to perform the process.

Further, programs that implement such methods (as well as other types ofdata) may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media (e.g.,computer readable media) in a number of manners. In some embodiments,hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or incombination with, some or all of the software instructions that canimplement the processes of various embodiments. Thus, variouscombinations of hardware and software may be used instead of softwareonly.

The term “computer-readable medium” refers to any medium, a plurality ofthe same, or a combination of different media, that participate inproviding data (e.g., instructions, data structures) which may be readby a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, opticalor magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media includedynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes themain memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire andfiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled tothe processor. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves,light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generatedduring radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications.Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM,an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrierwave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computercan read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingdata (e.g. sequences of instructions) to a processor. For example, datamay be (i) delivered from RAM to a processor; (ii) carried over awireless transmission medium; (iii) formatted and/or transmittedaccording to numerous formats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet(or IEEE 802.3), SAP, ATP, Bluetooth™, and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G;and/or (iv) encrypted to ensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of avariety of ways well known in the art.

Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of acomputer-readable medium storing a program for performing the process.The computer-readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) thoseprogram elements which are appropriate to perform the method.

Just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicatethat all the described steps are required, embodiments of an apparatusinclude a computer/computing device operable to perform some (but notnecessarily all) of the described process.

Likewise, just as the description of various steps in a process does notindicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of acomputer-readable medium storing a program or data structure include acomputer-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, cancause a processor to perform some (but not necessarily all) of thedescribed process.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations ordescriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrativearrangements for stored representations of information. Any number ofother arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g.,tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustratedentries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content ofthe entries can be different from those described herein. Further,despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats(including relational databases, object-based models and/or distributeddatabases) could be used to store and manipulate the data typesdescribed herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a databasecan be used to implement various processes, such as the describedherein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be storedlocally or remotely from a device which accesses data in such adatabase.

Various embodiments can be configured to work in a network environmentincluding a computer that is in communication (e.g., via acommunications network) with one or more devices. The computer maycommunicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via any wired orwireless medium (e.g. the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, atelephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communicationsline, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, asatellite communications link, a combination of any of the above). Eachof the devices may themselves comprise computers or other computingdevices, such as those based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™processor, that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any numberand type of devices may be in communication with the computer.

In an embodiment, a server computer or centralized authority may not benecessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in anembodiment, be practiced on one or more devices without a centralauthority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein asperformed by the server computer or data described as stored on theserver computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or moresuch devices.

Where a process is described, in an embodiment the process may operatewithout any user intervention. In another embodiment, the processincludes some human intervention (e.g., a step is performed by or withthe assistance of a human).

Continuing Applications

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, anenabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some ofthese embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the presentapplication, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuingapplications that claim the benefit of priority of the presentapplication. Applicants intend to file additional applications to pursuepatents for subject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but notclaimed in the present application.

U.S.C. §112, Paragraph 6

In a claim, a limitation of the claim which includes the phrase “meansfor” or the phrase “step for” means that 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6,applies to that limitation.

In a claim, a limitation of the claim which does not include the phrase“means for” or the phrase “step for” means that 35 U.S.C. §112,paragraph 6 does not apply to that limitation, regardless of whetherthat limitation recites a function without recitation of structure,material or acts for performing that function. For example, in a claim,the mere use of the phrase “step of” or the phrase “steps of” inreferring to one or more steps of the claim or of another claim does notmean that 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, applies to that step(s).

With respect to a means or a step for performing a specified function inaccordance with 35U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, the corresponding structure,material or acts described in the specification, and equivalentsthereof, may perform additional functions as well as the specifiedfunction.

Computers, processors, computing devices and like products arestructures that can perform a wide variety of functions. Such productscan be operable to perform a specified function by executing one or moreprograms, such as a program stored in a memory device of that product orin a memory device which that product accesses. Unless expresslyspecified otherwise, such a program need not be based on any particularalgorithm, such as any particular algorithm that might be disclosed inthe present application. It is well known to one of ordinary skill inthe art that a specified function may be implemented via differentalgorithms, and any of a number of different algorithms would be a meredesign choice for carrying out the specified function.

Therefore, with respect to a means or a step for performing a specifiedfunction in accordance with 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6, structurecorresponding to a specified function includes any product programmed toperform the specified function. Such structure includes programmedproducts which perform the function, regardless of whether such productis programmed with (i) a disclosed algorithm for performing thefunction, (ii) an algorithm that is similar to a disclosed algorithm, or(iii) a different algorithm for performing the function.

Disclaimer

Numerous references to a particular embodiment does not indicate adisclaimer or disavowal of additional, different embodiments, andsimilarly references to the description of embodiments which all includea particular feature does not indicate a disclaimer or disavowal ofembodiments which do not include that particular feature. A cleardisclaimer or disavowal in the present application shall be prefaced bythe phrase “not included” or the like.

Incorporation by Reference

Any patent, patent application or other document referred to herein isincorporated by reference into this patent application as part of thepresent disclosure, but only for purposes of written description andenablement, and should in no way be used to limit, define, or otherwiseconstrue the terms of the present application where the presentapplication, without incorporating that material, would not have failedto provide an ascertainable meaning, but rather would have provided ameaning to such term. Nothing incorporated by reference should be usedin any way to limit, define, or otherwise construe the terms of thepresent application. The mere incorporation by reference does notendorse, ratify or acquiesce in any statements, opinions, arguments orcharacterizations contained therein.

Prosecution History

In interpreting the present application (which includes the claims), oneof ordinary skill in the art shall refer to the prosecution history ofthe present application, but not to the prosecution history of any otherpatent or patent application, regardless of whether there are otherpatent applications that are considered related to the presentapplication.

Embodiments

Various embodiments are directed to life instruments, and products andprocesses for facilitating transactions involving life instruments. Forexample, various embodiments are directed to products and processeswhich facilitate the buying, offering to buy, selling and offering tosell of life instruments.

As used herein, a “life instrument” refers to an instrument (e.g., afinancial instrument) that has a value or other feature that depends onthe lifetime of one or more persons.

As used herein, a “life instrument” includes:

-   -   a life insurance policy;    -   any instrument in which either        -   a. the time(s) one or more payments are made, payable, due,            accrued, etc., or        -   b. the amount of payment (including whether to pay at all),    -   is based on when an individual dies;    -   a life annuity;    -   any instrument in which payments (e.g., periodic payments) of        various payment amounts (e.g., each payment of the same amount,        payments increase according to a schedule) are made until a time        that is based on when one or more individuals die;    -   any instrument in which one or more payments stop, become not        due, become not payable, un-accrue, are refundable, etc. based        on when an individual dies;    -   any instrument in which the value (e.g., the return) to the        seller of such an instrument is based on when one or more        individuals die.

A life policy may include other features as well as any of the featureslisted above. For example, a life policy may include other features aswell as a feature ion which the time one or more payments are made isbased on when an individual dies.

Further, various embodiments of the present invention are applicable toinstruments that are based on one or more life instruments.Specifically, the embodiments described herein as relating to a lifeinstrument are equally applicable to other instruments, including thefollowing:

-   -   i. an index which defines a set of life instruments (e.g., a set        of life instruments which all possess specified        characteristics);    -   ii. instruments based on such an index;    -   iii. options, futures and other derivatives that are based on        one or more life instruments;    -   iv. instruments which are based on one or more portions of one        or more life instruments;    -   v. any combination of the above.

The above list of other instruments shall not be interpreted as limitingthe meaning of “life instrument”. For example, something may fall underthe definition of a “life policy” and also fall under the definition ofone or more things listed above under “other instrument”.

A life insurance policy may define one or more of several features,including:

-   -   a death benefit (e.g., a predetermined amount of payment such as        $1,000,000);    -   a beneficiary who is entitled to receive the death benefit;    -   an insured individual (e.g., upon whose death the death benefit        is payable); and    -   an owner, which is often the insured individual.

A “life insurance policy” may include various other features. Forexample, a life insurance policy may include an obligation (on the ownerof the life insurance policy) to have payments made (e.g., periodicpayments made to an insurance company during a period of insurancecoverage) in exchange for the right to have the death benefit paid tothe beneficiary. As another example, a life insurance policy may have a“cash surrender value”, which is an amount paid to the owner of a lifeinsurance policy in exchange for terminating the life insurance policy(e.g., ending the period of insurance coverage, ending the obligation tohave payments made, ending the right to have the death benefit paid tothe beneficiary).

Some types of life insurance policies include: a term life insurancepolicy, a whole life insurance policy, and a universal life insurancepolicy.

A “term life insurance policy” is typically a policy that provides astated benefit upon death of the policy's owner, provided that the deathoccurs within a specific time period (e.g., anytime before apredetermined date, anytime before the insured reaches a predeterminedage). Typically, the policy does not provide any other returns (e.g.,payment) beyond the stated death benefit, unlike a life insurance policythat includes a savings component.

A “whole life insurance policy” is typically a policy that provides forinsurance coverage for the life of the insured individual. Unlike a termlife insurance policy, which provides coverage for a specific timeperiod, upon the inevitable death of the insured individual, the deathbenefit is made to the policy's beneficiaries. A “whole life insurancepolicy” typically also includes an investment component, whichaccumulates a cash value that the owner can withdraw or borrow against.

A “life annuity” may define one or more of several features, including:

-   -   annuity payments (e.g., periodic payments of a specified        amount);    -   a time period during which payments are made, due, paid,        payable, accrued or the like;    -   an annuitant, who is entitled to receive the payments;    -   an owner, which is often the insured individual.

Generally, an annuity involves series of payments (typically fixedpayments) paid (to an “annuitant” by an entity such as an insurancecompany) over a specified period of the annuity (typically paid atregular intervals).

In addition, an annuity may also feature payments are payable to theannuitant only after one or more investment payments are paid “into” theannuity.

An embodiment includes an apparatus which permits the “listing” of alife instrument. The listing of a life instrument includes the makingavailable to others of certain information relating to the lifeinstrument. For example, a life instrument may be listed so that it maybe bid on by potential purchasers of the life instrument.

The terms “insurance company” or “insurance companies” are used hereinto refer to any entity or entities that issues any insurance policy orother life instrument. Such entities may, e.g., set certain guidelinesfor the payment terms of premiums.

In an embodiment, the first step to purchasing a life insurance policyrequires the individual to receive a medical evaluation. This evaluationmay be used to determine the life expectancy of the individual. Based onthis evaluation, policy amount, and/or a variety of other terms andfactors, the insurance company sets forth the premiums to be paid by theinsured.

Some insurance policies may build up cash value.

The terms of many insurance policies enable the insured to obtain thecash value of the policy prior to the policy's settlement if the insuredterminates the policy. However, the true value of a policy may notequate with the cash value set forth on the insurance policy.

As an alternative to the insurance company, a third party may purchasethe insurance policy. The third party purchaser may offer cash or otherpayments to the insured, whereby the purchaser receives the beneficialinterest in the insurance policy in return for providing the insuredwith an agreed upon payment. Such settlements may be greater or lessthan the cash value of the policy or the amount offered by the insurancecompany and may increase the desires of the insured to sell the right tohis policy benefit to the third party.

Such settlements enable the purchaser to claim the policy benefit upondeath of the insured. In such a settlement, it is common that thepurchaser assumes all the responsibilities set forth in the policy forthe owner. Examples of such responsibilities may include paying monthlypremiums. Such settlements are generally known as life settlements (forpurposes of this patent application, the term “life settlement” shouldbe understood to include but not be limited to the sale, assignment,transfer, devise, lease, or bequest of the death benefit or any portionof an insurance policy or certificate of insurance for compensation lessthan the expected death benefit of the insurance policy or certificate).

It should be noted that a subset of life settlements is known as aviatical settlement. However, viatical settlements are generallyunderstood to refer to the purchase of policies and/or settlementcontracts from individuals with a life expectancy of less than 24months. The present invention is directed towards life settlements andmay also apply to viatical, or any other types of settlements regardingthe sale, assignment, transfer device or lease of the beneficialinterest in any insurance policy.

The following illustrative example describes a life settlement betweentwo parties. It should be understood that the parties can represent morethan one person. The two parties in the following example are “Person A”representing a policyholder, and “Person B” representing thepurchaser(s): Person A applies for a policy valued at $1 Million. Theinsurance company determines, based on the life expectancy of Person A,the monthly premiums for Person A's policy. After a period of time,Person A may decide he wants to terminate the policy early.

The insurance company may offer a sum of money in response to a requestfor a termination of the policy. The terms of the policy typicallydictate the amount of the insurance company's offer. The person canterminate the policy and receive the amount as dictated by the policy orthe insurance company. If Person A accepts the offer as suitable, theinsurance company is relieved from their obligation to pay the deathbenefit to the beneficiaries of the policy upon the death of Person A.Person B may offer Person A a sum greater than the insurance company'soffer in exchange for becoming a beneficiary on the policy. If thisoffer is accepted, Person B may claim the death benefit upon the deathof Person A. However, Person B may be required to assume theresponsibilities of the policyholder as set forth in the terms of thepolicy, and thus may be obligated to pay the monthly premiums. This isthe life settlement contract offered by Person B. If Person A chooses toaccept this settlement, he may assign, transfer, devise, lease, orbequest the benefits of the insurance policy to Person B and collect thesum offered by Person B in the transaction.

At this point, the new policyholder, Person B, may further trade, lend,securitize or dispose of the settlement contract in any otherappropriate manner. For example, Person B may wish to sell thesettlement contract or a portion of it to other purchaser(s). In turn,another purchaser may wish to purchase the settlement contract fromPerson B for a purchase price that is higher or lower than the initialamount paid to Person A by Person B.

The description above illustrates how insurance policies have becomefinancial products with the same potential to be traded, securitized,etc., as other financial products. These financial products, may also befurther retraded by new owners, who may not have been the policyholders.In fact, a substantial market, projected to represent in excess of fivebillion dollars in policy value in 2005 alone, has evolved for tradinginsurance policies and/or life settlement contracts. Nevertheless, thetrading methods associated with the market remain arcane and outdated.This substantial market continues to be traded by a limited number ofbrokers using sub-optimal trading methods.

The following are some examples of discussions in the relevantliterature concerning life insurance contracts as financial products:

Various embodiments provide an electronic trading environment in whichlife insurance policies and/or settlement contracts and other insurancepolicies, settlement contracts relating thereto, or financialinstruments may be submitted, created, checked, sorted, searched, and/ortraded. Preferably, the electronic trading environment would serve toincrease the transparency and concomitant liquidity associated withelectronic trading of insurance-related settlement contracts, whichinclude life settlements and settlement contracts related to otherinsurance policies.

In an embodiment, a user may be able to electronically submit, check,search, sort, purchase, and/or sell one or more insurance-relatedsettlement contracts and/or policies, such as life settlement contractsand/or policies, using a computer-based settlement trading system. Thesystem may preferably be used to search a database of settlementcontracts and/or policies and list a number of life settlement contractsand/or policies in response to user-specified selection criteria (e.g.,through a database query). The criteria may correlate to a subset of anynumber of attributes of, or fields available in, a life insurancepolicy, contract, and/or standardized profile. Additionally, thecriteria may include an exceptions menu based on unique aspects of thelife insurance policy and/or contract or group of life insurancepolicies and/or contracts. It should be noted that this aspect of theinvention is applicable to other types of insurance policies, contractrelating thereto, or any other similar financial instrument.

Based on this information, the user may then view the complete policy,contract, and/or profile, view the settlement contract and/or policytrade status, and/or execute a trade. The executed trade may or may notrequire transfer of the beneficial interest of a policy. For example, aright in a policy may be bought and sold by more than one purchaserbefore transferring the beneficial interest on the policy.

Various embodiments provide a system and method for rating the value ofa policy based on a plurality of factors. In one embodiment of theinvention, the system may also use existing rating systems to providesome or all of the necessary factors, as will be described in moredetail below. The system may give each individual settlement profile arating which is indicative of the value of the investment. This ratingmay be based on a plurality of factors that may include thepolicyholder's life expectancy, the financial well-being of thepolicyholder's insurance company, or with respect to other insurancepolicies, the factors related most closely thereto. Such rating enablesthe pricing of a particular policy.

However, some of the costs associated with performing such ratings maynot justify trading policies and/or life settlement contracts that havevalues that fall below a particular threshold. Accordingly, it is yetanother object of the invention to trade such policies and/or lifesettlement contracts individually or in clusters without rating them.

Various embodiments provide systems and methods for submitting one ormore policies and/or life settlement contracts in an electronic marketto receive the best offer in a request for quote (RFQ) environment.

Various embodiments provide systems and methods for advancing andpreferably electronically executing the necessary interactions with theparties involved in creating an electronic market for insurance-relatedsettlements.

Various embodiments relate to creating systems and methods to assist thesubmission, creation, status checking, sorting, searching, and/ortrading of insurance-related instruments—e.g., contracts that representthe purchase of an insurance policy. The following embodiments of theinvention relate to life settlement contracts. Nevertheless, theseembodiments do not limit the invention to this particular subjectmatter. Rather, such embodiments are provided for illustration of theinvention and not to limit it to a particular type of insurance policyor instrument.

Typically, life settlement contracts are between two parties—i.e., aseller and a purchaser of the policy. Once the purchaser purchases thepolicy, he typically waits until the policyholder dies to collect themoney for the policy from the insurance company. In the meantime, thepurchaser may be obligated to pay the monthly premiums and assumeresponsibility in place of the policyholder in order for the policy toremain active.

Owing to the relatively limited exposure of the life settlement market,individuals with life insurance policies typically are limited to arelatively small number of purchasers. As a result, the policyholderstypically receive a lower compensation than may be possible in a markethaving more purchasers. Preferably, systems and methods according to theinvention alleviate this problem. A purpose of the systems and methodsof the invention is to increase the transparency and concomitantliquidity of the life settlement market and, thereby, to provideindividuals seeking life settlements the best value for their policies.

Referring to FIG. 1, exemplary system 100 for implementing the inventionis shown. As illustrated, system 100 may include one of moreworkstations 101. Workstations 101 may be local or remote, and areconnected by one or more communications links 102 to computer network103 that is linked via communications links 105 to server 104. Server104 is linked via communications link 110 to back office clearing center112.

In system 100, server 104 may be any suitable server, processor,computer, or data processing device, or combination of the same. Server104 may be used to process and settle executed trades of settlementcontracts.

Computer network 103 may be any suitable computer network including theInternet, an intranet, a wide-area network (WAN), a local-area network(LAN), a wireless network, a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, aframe relay network, an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, avirtual private network (VPN), a general packet radio service (GPRS)network, or any combination of any of the same. Communications links 102and 105 may be any communications links suitable for communicating databetween workstations 101 and server 104, such as network links, dial-uplinks, wireless links, hard-wired links, fiber-optical links, etc.

Workstations 101 may be personal computers, laptop computers, mainframecomputers, dumb terminals, data displays, Internet browsers, PersonalDigital Assistants (PDAs), two-way pagers, wireless terminals, portabletelephones, etc., or any combination of the same. Workstations 101 maybe used to enter into and proceed with the trades that relate to theinvention, and display trade, benchmark, status, or spread informationto users of system 100.

Back office clearing center 112 may be any suitable equipment, such as acomputer, a laptop computer, a mainframe computer, etc., or anycombination of the same, for causing trades to be cleared and/orverifying that trades are cleared. Communications link 110 may be anycommunications links suitable for communicating data between server 104and back office clearing center 112, such as network links, dial-uplinks, wireless links, hard-wired links, fiber-optical links, etc.

The server, the back office clearing center, and one of theworkstations, which are depicted in FIG. 1, are illustrated in moredetail in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, workstation 101 may includeprocessor 201, display 202, input device 203, and memory 204, which maybe interconnected. In a preferred embodiment, memory 204 contains astorage device for storing a workstation program for controllingprocessor 201. Processor 201 may use the workstation program to presenton display 202 trade information relating to bids, offers, executedtrades, and insurance policy and/or profile information such as statusand query results to a user of workstation 101. Processor 201 may runany of the processes shown in flow diagrams of FIGS. 3, 4, 10, 11, and12. Display 202 may be used to view any portion of FIG. 5, 6, 7, 8, or9. Furthermore, input device 203 may be used by the user to submitinsurance policies and/or settlement contracts, search existing ones,view the status of submitted policies and/or contracts, enter such bidsand offers on them, modify the bids and offers, and enter into tradesinvolving the policies themselves and/or settlement contracts for theinsurance policies.

Server 104 may include processor 211, display 212, input device 213, andmemory 214, which may be interconnected. In a preferred embodiment,memory 214 contains a storage device for storing settlement contracts(e.g., in a database) as well as trade information relating to thetrades. The storage device further contains a server program forcontrolling processor 211. Processor 211 uses the server program toreceive, sort, and search settlement contracts, and transact thepurchase and sale of the settlement contracts. Processor 211 may includesettlement calculation processor 215 that may be implemented todetermine the benchmark values based on market conditions or othercriteria that may relate to the insurance policy contracts. Processor211 may run any of the processes shown in the flow diagrams of FIGS. 3,4, 10, 11, and 12. Processor 211 may include trade processor 216 thatexecutes and processes trades.

Back office clearing center 112 may include processor 221, display 222,input device 223, and memory 224, which may be interconnected. In apreferred embodiment, memory 224 contains a storage device for storing aclearing program for controlling processor 221. Processor 221 uses theclearing program to clear executed trades. Clearing executed trades maypreferably include exchanging currency for a future commitment.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart 300 representing the process by which a lifesettlement policy and/or contract may be obtained and submitted toserver 104 of FIG. 1. Any steps that may be necessary in this processand that may not be shown can be seen in a more detailed interactionsdiagram in FIG. 10. The process may be run by processor 201 of FIG. 2and begins at step 310 with a company, individual, collection ofindividuals, any combination of the same, or any other entity obtaininga copy of one or more policies and/or settlements contracts for thepurposes of trading. The one or more policies and/or settlementcontracts may be electronically submitted by the entity through any oneof workstations 101 of FIG. 1. If a new policy that has not yet beensold by the policyholder is being submitted, a company, an individual, acollection of individuals, any combination of the same, or any otherentity may provide a contract to the policyholder describing the risksand agreements set forth by the life settlement rules and regulations.

At the next step 320 a life expectancy evaluation may or may not beperformed on the policyholder to determine his life expectancy. Also, acreditworthiness evaluation may or may not be performed on thepolicyholder's insurance company. This creditworthiness evaluation maybe based on existing ratings of the insurance company. Ratings may beperformed by companies such as Standard & Poor, Moody, etc., or anyother suitable or accepted ratings agency. Systems and methods accordingto the invention that are used for the evaluation and the performance ofsteps other than the ones shown in FIG. 3 will be more clearlyillustrated in the description of FIG. 10. The policyholder's lifeexpectancy may be based on physical health—e.g., illnesses, any medicalcondition as such, etc., mental health, credit rating, drug or alcoholuse, marital status, gender, age, height, weight, occupation, racereligion, geographic location, etc. The creditworthiness evaluation ofthe insurance company associated with the policy may be based on thecompany history, length of operation, lawsuits, reliability, financialworth, public rating, outstanding settlements, etc.

Once the life expectancy and credit evaluations are performed (neitherof which is a required step), step 330 may or may not rate the policiesand/or contracts at least based on the policyholder's life expectancyand/or existing ratings of the creditworthiness of the policyholder'sinsurance company. Such a rating enables the pricing of the policiesand/or contracts. The rating system may include any number of equationsthat manipulate the policyholder's life expectancy and/or existingratings of the creditworthiness of the policyholder's insurance companyas evaluated using any number of mathematical functions, formulas,theories, etc., or any combination of the same.

However, some of the costs associated with performing such ratings, suchas the costs of performing life expectancy and/or credit evaluations,fixed. These and/or other costs may not justify trading policies and/orsettlement contracts that have values that fall below a particularthreshold or within a particular range of policy values. Performing suchratings may not be justified because of the limited profits that cantypically be realized from trading such policies and/or life settlementcontracts. Accordingly, in other embodiments of the invention, suchpolicies may be grouped together in order to trade them in “clusters”without rating them. Each cluster may then be traded. Alternatively,such policies and/or life settlement contracts may be tradedindividually without being rated. In other embodiments, the clusters orindividual policies and/or contracts may instead be priced in accordancewith a more suitable (e.g., less costly) pricing method.

The trading instrument(s) created at step 340 may be a cluster ofpolicies and/or contracts or may include any or all the informationrelating to the policyholder's life expectancy and/or creditworthinessevaluations of the policyholder's insurance company, respective ratings,or any combination of the same. The trading instrument may be used tosubmit the policies and/or contracts on server 104 for trading byworkstation 101 shown at step 350.

Listing the policy at step 350 may include the creation of the policyprofiles shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Step 350 may generate a database orpopulate a pre-existing database with any relevant fields of the policyprofile or contract. Additionally, any unique fields that can be indexedbased on unique aspects of a given policy profile and/or contract orgroup of policies and/or contracts may be inserted into the database atthis step. The step is discussed in more detail in connection with FIG.12. The unique aspects may be grouped into an exceptions menu that maybe displayed to a user upon request. Also, the listing of the policyand/or contract may include any computations necessary to allow for fastquerying and/or trading of the policies and/or contracts in the databaseas shown in more detail in FIGS. 7 and 8.

Before trading may commence, the system may or may not calculate indexvalues for the policies and/or contracts at step 360. In someembodiments, certain suitable provisions may be standardized. The indexvalues described herein may be calculated using any number of equationsthat manipulate the values associated with the computation of thepolicyholder's life expectancy and/or creditworthiness of thepolicyholder's insurance company, the policy benefits (includingvalues), any values shown in fields of the profile in FIGS. 6 and 7, thepricing of a cluster of policies and/or contracts, etc., or anycombination of the same using any number of mathematical equations,functions, formulas, theories, etc. or combination of the same.

The index value may be the calculated value or a value requested by ansettlement contract and/or policy seller. This index value may alsofunction as a benchmark for determining the worth of other settlementcontracts and/or policies by sellers, insurance companies, purchasers,or any combination of the same.

Users at workstations 101 may interact with servers 104 to trade theinstruments shown at step 370. Further demonstration of tradingprocedures are discussed in the description of FIG. 11.

FIG. 4 shows a method 400 according to the invention. The method showsstandardizing a life settlement profile at step 410.

The method also shows offering a settlement contract based on thestandard life settlement profile at step 420. Additionally, step 430 mayor may not be necessary to identify discrepancies between the availableinformation and the standardized profile. Such a discrepancy isillustrated in an example below. In alternative embodiments of theinvention, a number of different life settlement profiles may bestandardized. A sample output of the standardization of the profile step410 is shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 5 shows a sample portion of a settlement profile 500. Settlementprofile 500 may be viewed on display 202 of FIG. 2. Profile view 500 mayprecede settlement profile 600 of FIG. 6 and may include a subset of thefields in FIG. 6. For example, profile view 500 displays a policyholderfield 510 which corresponds to field 610. Any field that is included inboth profiles, 500 and 600, preferably will include the sameinformation.

One advantage that may be obtained by this particular feature is thatwhile a seller may be interested in observing the trading activity ofhis policy, a level of separation from the profile details may bedesired. For example, the seller may be interested in seeing the lastbid amount but may not want to view the life expectancy, credit rating,or any combination of the same. For simplicity, any mention of profile600 in the rest of the description reflects profile 500 in a similarmanner.

Other relevant fields 511 provided in profile 500 may include a currentbid—i.e., last bid in the request for quote (RFQ) system, time left tobid, or any combination of the same.

Additionally, profile 500 may include an interactive view policy button520. The selection of this button by a user may provide a view of thecomplete insurance policy. However, the complete view may notnecessarily include fields that may infringe on a policyholder'sprivacy. Such privacy related fields can include the policyholder'sname, address, and/or other combinations of the same.

Also, profile 500 may include an interactive trade history button 530.When a user selects button 530, the system may provide a listing of oneor more previous transactions on record.

Profile 500 may also include an interactive additional details button540. A selection of this option may present the user with the policyview shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 shows a sample settlement profile 600 generated by astandardization mechanism at step 410. Settlement profile 600 may beviewed on display 202 of FIG. 2. The settlement profile may includefields pertaining to the policyholder 610, insurance company 620, statusof the submitted policy and/or contract (not shown), values pertainingto last bid price 640, ask price 641, and/or last sale price 642. Inaddition, the profile may include values present in the profile orgenerated by the system that may be unique to the profile. Such uniqueattributes may be entered into or detected by the system. For example,if a policy is valued at an extraordinary amount, the system may displaysuch an amount as the unique aspect of the profile. As another example,policies that may have been issued by providers to residents ofdifferent locations may vary in terms of legal requirements frommunicipality to municipality, state to state, or country to country.Accordingly, the system may display such requirements as unique aspectsof a particular profile. Similarly, any other suitable non-standardclause may be included as a unique aspect of a particular profile.

The usefulness of the fields shown in settlement profile 600 becomeapparent in the later discussion of the settlement contract and/orpolicy selection shown in FIG. 7. The policyholder fields 611 mayinclude gender, date of birth, height, weight, tobacco or nicotine use,marital status, occupation, race, religion, geographic location, lifeexpectancy, identification of the individual who evaluated the lifeexpectancy, identification of the individual who evaluated consistency,etc., or any other information or combination of the same. Fieldspertaining to the insurance company of the policyholder are shown infields 621 and may include the company name, policy amount, date ofmaturation, premium payment amount, number of payments remaining, theinsurance company's rating, policy's cash value, the type of policy,etc., or any other information or combination of the same. Other fields(not shown) that relate to the status of the policy and/or contractstatus, and the unique aspects that may be generated based on any of theabove criteria may also be included in this profile view.

It should be noted that in some instances, certain fields of the profilemay not be available. These discrepancies may be marked with “XXXX”, orother suitable notation, as shown for the Religion field 611 in profile600.

The current trading prices such as bid price 640, ask price 641, lastsale price 642, or any other relevant trading information or combinationof the same is determined by server 104 and a query of the currentmarket values.

Some of the fields shown in FIG. 6 may not be applicable to allembodiments of the invention but are shown for illustrative purposes.For example, fields 640, 641, and 642 may not be applicable andtherefore may not be displayed in embodiments that relate to a requestfor quote environment, discussed later in this section.

The fields shown in the settlement profile 600 are not necessarilyrequired by the invention, they are shown for illustrative purposes onlyand are not meant to limit the invention in any way.

Other fields may add or replace fields shown in 611, or 621, or anycombination or other fields. Examples of other fields may includeinformation relating to the appearances of the individual—i.e. haircolor, eye color or any combination of the same. Also, examples of otherfields in 621 may include values pertaining to the insurance companyhistory such as net worth. Examples of other values relating to tradinginformation may include percent change of the previous closing price.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart 1200 representing the process ofgenerating and querying a profile database. Using a database system tostore information provides the ability to perform fast and accuratequery of information. The database may be have any number of fields.

Such fields may include any of the criteria in a policy profile shown inFIGS. 5 and 6, as well as fields not shown but described herein, or anyother relevant information pertaining to an insurance policy. Forexample, the fields in the database may include the policy's settlementsymbol, the policyholder's name, gender, date of birth, height, weight,tobacco or nicotine use, marital status, occupation, race, religion,geographic location, life expectancy, identification of the individualand/or entity which evaluated the life expectancy and/or medicalcondition or status, identification of the individual and/or entitywhich evaluated consistency, quality and/or integrity of the offering,the name of the insurance company issuing the policy, its rating, thepolicy's date of maturation, premium amount, its cash value, type, thenumber of payments remaining, the bid price, the ask price, the lastsale price, policy and/or contract submission or trade status, or anyother relevant trading and other information. There may also be a field(hereinafter, “uniqueness”) that includes information that is generatedbased on any of the above criteria or other unique aspects of theprofile as discussed above.

Initially the system may receive the submitted policy, profile, and/orcontract at step 1210. Afterwards, at step 1220, the system may extractany information in the policy, profile, and/or contract that matches thedatabase fields. Any information that may not be available may beinterpreted by the system as “XXXX”, or other suitable notation. At thenext step 1230, the database may be populated by indexing the matchingfields. A field for which corresponding information is not available maybe populated using “XXXX”, or other suitable notation for the entry. Anew record may be created at step 1240 in the database with thoserespective database fields populated. At this point, it may be said thatthe record is indexed and can be queried.

A user may search (i.e., query) a database at any point for anycombination of fields that exist in the database, as will be apparent inthe description of FIG. 7. The user may do so by querying specificcriteria within particular fields. After the database receives the queryat step 1250 it may process the query as a command and may determinewhich of the records match the request. At step 1260, the database mayreturn all the fields pertaining to any record, or any combinationthereof, that match the query. This will be more apparent in theillustrative example that follows.

In this example, an exemplary database may have two fields. The twofields in the exemplary database may be the type of insurance policy andthe height of the policyholder.

Three policies, A, B, and C, are submitted to the system at step 1210.The policies each contain the following information. Policy A hasinsurance policy type “universal”, the height of the policyholder is“5′7″”, and the policy amount is “$1.2 Million”. Policy B has insurancepolicy type “universal”, the height of the policyholder is “5′5″”, andthe policy amount is “$1.3 Million”. Policy C has insurance policy type“term”, the height of the policyholder is “5′4″”, and the policy amountis “$1 Million”.

After receiving the policies at step 1220, the information that matchesthe fields in the database may be extracted. In this example, thedatabase does not have a policy amount field. Accordingly, thecorresponding information in the policies may not be extracted. Thesystem may extract the information in each policy pertaining toinsurance policy type and height of the policy holder. The system maythen index this information at step 1230 and create a correspondingrecord at step 1240. The database may now process queries and match anyof the fields for the three profiles in the database.

If, in this example, a query requests all the records having “universal”as the insurance policy type, the database may process this query atstep 1250 and return at step 1260 the two records that have “universal”as their insurance policy type, namely A and B. If, in this example, aquery is made requesting “universal” type insurance or a height lessthan “5′5″”, the database may process this query at step 1250 and returnall three records at step 1260, namely A, B, and C. It should be notedthat the above example is meant for illustrative purposes and in no wayshould be understood to limit the invention.

Any information contained in the fields of a record, such as the policyprofile symbol, may be extracted from the records a user receives. Suchinformation may be used to locate, view, and/or trade the policy profileand/or contract that is on the system.

FIG. 7 shows a graphical user interface 700 according to the inventionthat may be used to query a database and select settlements contractsand/or policies relating to buying or selling life settlements.Graphical user interface 700 may be viewed on display 202. Theinteractive screen section 710 displays an area in which the user (whomay be an individual submitting their policy to the system, a brokerselling a policy for a policyholder, or any other suitable entity) mayselect any combination of information pertaining to a policyholder 711that may appear in policyholder information section 611 of settlementprofile 600. The fields 713 pertain to the policyholder that appears ininteractive screen 710. Fields 713 may correspond to fields 511 and 611available in settlement profile 500 or 600. Any fields that cannot beviewed 715 in the interactive screen may be scrolled down/up to bedisplayed, using the interactive button 712, which enables a user toeither scroll up or down the fields pertaining to policyholder 711. Theentries and values 714 inputted by a user pertaining to fields 713 aredisplayed alongside their respective field. A user may alter the entriesor values by either using scroll button 716 or any suitable text inputdevice, such as a keyboard, PDA, voice recognition, etc., or anycombination of the same.

The interactive screen section 720 displays an area in which the usermay select any combination of information pertaining to an insurancecompany 721 that may appear in insurance company information section 621of settlement profile 600. The fields pertaining to the insurancecompany 722 that appear in interactive screen 720 may correspond to thefields available in settlement profile 600. Any fields that cannot beviewed 715 in the interactive screen may be scrolled down/up to bedisplayed, by using the interactive button 723, which enables a user toeither scroll up or down the fields pertaining to insurance company 721.The entries and values 725 inputted by a user pertaining to fields 722are displayed alongside their respective field. A user may alter theentries or values by either using the scroll button 724 or any suitabletext input device, such as a keyboard, PDA, voice recognition, etc., orany combination of the same.

The interactive screen section 760 displays an area in which the usermay select any combination of information pertaining to the tradeinformation 761 that may appear in trade information section 640 ofsettlement profile 600. The fields pertaining to the trade information762 that appear in interactive screen 760 may correspond to the fieldsavailable in settlement profile 600. Any fields that cannot be viewed715 in the interactive screen may be scrolled down/up to be displayed,by using the interactive button 764, which enables a user to eitherscroll up or down the fields pertaining to trade information 761. Theentries and values 765 inputted by a user pertaining to fields 762 aredisplayed alongside their respective field. A user may alter the entriesor values by either using the scroll button 763 or any suitable textinput device, such as a keyboard, PDA, voice recognition, etc., or anycombination of the same.

Similarly, an interactive screen (not shown) may display to a user anexceptions menu that includes the unique aspects of policy profilesand/or contracts. This exceptions menu may or may not include a listingof unique aspects of all the records in the database. This listing maybe determined by querying a database for all the “unique” field entriescontaining distinct entries at step 1250 of FIG. 12. Selection and queryof any of the fields in this list may return any profile and/or contractthat has the selected unique aspect at step 1260, as detected and/orgenerated by the system.

Any criteria that the user wishes to leave open or does not want to haveimpact the settlement profile and/or contract search results either way,may be marked by inputting “NONE” in the relevant entries or valuesfields 714, 725, 735, 765. For example, if a user inputs “NONE” for allthe available fields and performs a query at step 1250, the database mayreturn a list at step 1260 of all the profiles on server 104.

Once a user has completed entering all the criteria they wish to havequeried, the button 750 allows a user to perform a query at step 1250through all the settlement profiles in the database which is on server104 and displays the matching results returned at step 1260, i.e., anyand/or all the fields of the matching records, in a display window 740.

A user that may want to see the profile for any of the listed profilesmay select one or more of the listed profiles, i.e., by choosing thepolicy symbol field(s) shown, and receive an organized representation ofone or more settlement profile data as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

A user may also request to see a complete listing of all the tradeinformation pertaining to one or more of the listed settlement profiles.Interactive button 770 may allow a user to generate a display with anorganized representation of all the trade information pertaining to oneor more matching profiles as shown in FIG. 9.

Any user of the system may place trades relating to life settlementcontracts and/or policies according to the invention using the graphicaluser interface 800 shown in FIG. 8. A user may input one or more symbolsin the symbol selection box 810 pertaining to any particular settlementcontract and/or policy that is on system 100. The symbol may be inputtedusing any text input device such as a keyboard, PDA, drop-down selectionbox, voice recognition, or any combination of the same. When the userhas inputted all the symbols pertaining to settlement contracts theywish to trade or view, the submit button 820 may cause the real-timetrade information statistics for one or more symbols to be displayed inthe interactive display 830.

Information related to trade statistics may be queried in the database.This may be done by querying the database for any trade statistics of arecord for a given settlement profile symbol. The database may thensearch and find all the records that may match that symbol at step 1250and return any of the information contained in those field(s) thatpertain to that symbol at step 1260.

For example, an alphanumeric identifier may be associated with aparticular individual's policy. The relationship between the identifierand the insured may be known only to select few such as, for example,the insured, and the insured's physician. In some embodiments, thesettlement symbol JHONCR has been inputted and shown in symbol selectionbox 810. The respective settlement contract trade statistics arepresented in real-time interactive statistics display 830. The presentedreal-time trade statistics correlate to the real-time market shown inFIG. 9 and respective database record fields. The settlement symbol ispresented in column 910 and one or more of the real-time tradestatistics relating to the given symbol is/are displayed in theirrespective columns. In this example it is shown that in column 920 themarket OPEN price is $610,000 and corresponds to what is displayed inviewable display 830. The statistics in FIG. 8 are shown forillustrative purposes and may or may not include the listed itemsdepending on the embodiment of this invention. For example, inembodiments that implement requests for quotes, as discussed later inthis section, the ask price may not be displayed.

The above example is meant for illustrative purposes only and in no waylimits the invention. For example, one skilled in the art may choose tohave real-time trade information statistics displayed in the viewabledisplay 830 without the user interacting with the system. Such that athe real-time trade information statistics may be displayed as soon as asymbol in selection box 810 is recognized by system 100. This mayeliminate the need for SUBMIT box 820.

The user may decide to buy or sell one or more settlement symbols chosenin selection box 810. The interactive BUY button 840 and interactiveSELL button 841 serve this purpose. The selected price for the buy/selltrade is inputted into text box 850 by the use of any text input devicesuch as a keyboard, PDA, drop-down selection box, voice recognition, orany combination of the same. A user in this case has chosen a price of$635,000 shown in 850 for settlement symbol JHONCR shown in 810. Whenthe user selects the BUY button 840, system 100 may update the field inthe database for the record that has JHONCR as the settlement symbolfield. The price of $630,000 pertaining to symbol JHONCR in a real-timemanner is therefore, placed in the database and set as the current bidprice if it is higher than any previous real-time bid price for thatrecord in the database. Conversely, if the user selects the sell button841 system 100 places the price shown in text box 850 as the ask pricefor the record with the field matching the selected symbol in thedatabase.

Additionally, the user is presented with a trade type drop-down box 860which has its selections changed using the scroll button 861. Using thisselection box the user may have the option to buy ANY settlement symbolat a chosen price. For example, if ANY is selected in drop-down box 860,the system performs a database query and buys any record pertaining to asettlement in the database that has an ask price of $635,000 shown intext box 850. Other options may include MARKET trades which precludesany value shown in text box 850 and performs a sell/buy trade at thegiven bid/ask price for one or more selected symbols in settlementsymbol selection box 810. Other embodiments may be created. For example,one skilled in the art may choose to have any plurality of trade optionsin trade type selection box 860 without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention. For example, other trade types may includeLIMIT trades, which do not buy/sell any settlements/profiles beyond thegiven limit selected in text box 850.

The trade duration may be selected in the selection box 870 and changedusing the scroll button 871. Options may include but are not limited to“good till cancelled” (GTC) or “one day only” (ODO). When a trade isplaced on system 100 its status may be displayed in the viewable displayscreen 880. In this case the status of the trade pertaining to therecord with matching settlement symbol JHONCR is returned by thedatabase trade status field as PENDING indicating that the trade has yetto execute and thus, purchased or sold by another party.

A user may also be presented with a viewable screen 890 displaying oneor more settlement contracts and/or policies purchased by the user(i.e., the user's portfolio). The user's portfolio is displayed with theowned settlement symbol(s) 891 and relevant statistics information 892.Relevant statistics information 892 may include the purchase price,policy value, policyholder information, insurance company information,or any values given in settlement profile 600 and/or queried in thedatabase.

An organized representation of one or more settlement contracts and/orpolicies is shown in FIG. 9. The user may be presented with one or moresettlement symbols in column 910. Each settlement symbol has arespective trade statistic associated with it. Examples of some tradestatistics relating to the settlement may include the OPEN price 920,the HI/LOW values for a period of time 930, LAST closing price 940, theCHANGE amount 950 from closing price, the current BID price 960, thecurrent ASK price 970, the POLICY AMOUNT 980, or any combination of thesame. The settlement symbols may be presented in a plurality oforganizations not limited to what is shown in FIG. 9. For example, thesettlement symbols may be presented in descending/ascending orderaccording to CHANGE amount 950, or any combination of other numericalfields, or alphabetically according to settlement symbol 910, or anycombination of the same.

Advantages of systems and methods according to the invention includeallowing purchasers to trade one or more life settlement contractsand/or policies electronically. Thus people with settlement contractsmay potentially sell their investment sooner for a higher price than wasinitially purchased and may not be required to wait for the terminationof the policy or the policyholder's death to make a profit. Similarly,people looking to purchase settlement contracts may browse a pluralityof available profiles electronically to determine what they think is thebest investment opportunity. This is one example of electronicallytrading life settlement contracts according to the invention.

Alternatively, as discussed briefly above, systems and methods accordingto the invention may be applicable to any type of insurance policy,annuity, disability, or other suitable instrument. Additionally, aderivatives based market may be created allowing the derivatives to besearched and paged in a similar way to the settlement profiles describedherein.

In a preferred embodiment, trades may be performed on life insurancepolicies for creating life settlement contracts. Additionally, tradesmay be performed for the beneficial interest on the life insurancepolicies. FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram 1000 representing theinteractions that may take place in the system. The interactions shownmay be necessary for an insurance policy to be obtained and submitted toserver 104 to facilitate the creation of a life settlement contract. Itshould be noted that the solid lines represent a preferred embodiment ofthe invention. However, the dotted lines represent interactive pathsthat may be used in alternative embodiments. These alternate interactivepaths may provide the same or similar advantages as the invention.

A central computing system 1001 may act as the central hub in thissystem. System 1001 may handle all the necessary communications ortransmissions in order to submit or check the status of one or morepolicies and/or contracts on server 104 of FIG. 1.

Initially, system 1001 may interact with an individual holding one ormore life insurance policies 1010. Individual 1010 may wish to submitone or more policies on server 104 to receive bids. An exchange mayrequire that the individual electronically or otherwise provide to 1001one or more policies, a letter of release, name of his physician, or anycombination of the same represented by 1011. In return, system 1001 mayprovide the individual with a unique identifier, cash, shares of stock,bonds, one or more annuities, or any recurring periodic or othersuitable payment, or other value-bearing asset, or any combination ofthe same (immediately or at some later date), represented by 1011. Theunique identifier may be a symbol, number, encrypted code, or anycombination of the same.

If the individual receives a value-bearing asset of any of the formsdescribed above immediately, the individual may be relieved of ownershipof the policy. For example, in the case the individual terminates one ormore policies early, the individual may receive the value-bearing assetimmediately. Similarly, the system may purchase one or more policiesfrom the individual prior to placing one or more policies for trade orauction, and, in this case, may also offer a value-bearing assetimmediately. It should be noted that there may be other situations wherevalue-bearing assets of any of the forms described above may be remittedto the policyholder. For example, the policy holder's insurance companymay instead provide the insured with some shares of stock, bonds, one ormore annuities, or any recurring periodic or other suitable paymentinstead of a lump-sum cash payment to terminate the policy as anincentive for not trading the policy. Alternatively, a third party mayoffer some shares of stock, bonds, one or more annuities, or anyrecurring periodic or other suitable payment instead of a lump-sum cashpayment in order to purchase the policy.

Referring back to FIG. 10, alternatively, the individual may provide abroker 1060 which may include any suitable (trader or any other person)with one or more policies, a letter of release, name of his physician,or any combination of the same represented by 1013. In return,individual 1010 may receive cash, a unique identifier, shares of stock,bonds, one or more annuities, or any recurring period or suitablepayment, or other value-bearing asset, or any combinations of the same(immediately or at some later date), represented by 1014. If theindividual receives a value-bearing asset of any of the forms describedabove immediately, the individual may be relieved of ownership of one ormore policies. For example, in the case the individual terminates one ormore policies, the individual may receive the value-bearing assetimmediately. Similarly, the system may purchase one or more policiesfrom the individual prior to placing one or more policies for trade orauction, and, in this case, may also offer a value-bearing assetimmediately. As above, it should be noted that there may be othersituations where value-bearing assets of any of the forms describedabove may be remitted to the policyholder. If the individual interactsthrough broker 1060, exchanges with system 1001 through 1011 and 1012may not be necessary. In turn, 1011 and 1012, may be replaced by 1061and 1062.

System 1001 may facilitate the performance of a medical evaluation asthe next step. The system may provide the individual's physician 1020with the unique identifier of the individual, the individual's name, andany combination of the same represented by 1022. Physician 1020 performsa medical evaluation on individual 1010 and sends the evaluation tosystem 1001. The medical evaluation the physician sends is representedby 1021 and may be based on physical health—e.g., illnesses, any medicalcondition as such, etc., drug or alcohol use, marital status, gender,age, height, weight, occupation, race religion, geographic location, orany other suitable characteristic. A physician should be understood forthe purposes of this application to include any other suitable careprovider or other person capable of providing the service describedabove. Alternatively, or in addition, the system may facilitate theperformance of any other evaluation through any other evaluating entity.

In this preferred embodiment, prior to the purchase of the policy, theindividual's name and unique identifier may be known only by individual1010, the broker 1060, and physician 1020. For security and privacypurposes, no other entity (except for the ultimate purchaser of thepolicy) may be allowed to obtain the matching of the individual's nameor social security number (or other suitable personal information) withthe unique identifier. The identification of the record (which has anyprivacy related information removed as discussed previously in thissection) associated with the individual may be solely accessible by theunique identifier. Alternatively, a unique identifier may not berequired.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, identification of theindividual may always or substantially always be kept hidden from thepurchaser. Furthermore, in such a transaction, a third party, other thanthe insured and the purchaser, or similar entity may be appointed tomaintain the information relating to the insured. As stated above, thisinformation may be kept secret from the purchaser even after theconsummation of the transaction.

System 1001 may interact with an evaluation firm 1030 represented by1031 and 1032 to receive a life expectancy of the individual. Theindividual's unique identifier and the medical evaluation may beprovided to a firm 1030. After firm 1030 completes the evaluation of theindividual, 1030 may return a life expectancy of the individual tosystem 1001.

A consistency check, or any other anti-fraud or similarintegrity-checking service that the system selects or requires to insurethe proper and equitable functioning of the system may be performed byan advisor for consistency 1040 or other suitable entity. This check maybe necessary to ensure evaluation performed by physician 1020 isconsistent with the original evaluation provided by one or more policiesand is necessary to insure the credibility and maintain the integrity ofthe system. The request and response by system 1001 and advisor 1040 arerepresented by 1041 and 1042.

The final step may be placing one or more policies and/or contracts onserver 104, represented by 1050. System 1001 may perform a plurality ofcomputations as described earlier in this section that may determine arating, index value, create a profile and/or cluster of profiles fortrading, or any combination of the same. Interactions necessary forsubmitting the policy to server 104 are represented by 1051 and 1052.

Further description of the interaction of policyholders and purchasersis included below in relation to FIGS. 11A and 11B.

Individual 1010 or broker 1060 may receive the status of one or morepolicies and/or contracts after submission to system 1001. System 1001may return, in response to a status request, using, for example, one ormore unique identifier, information pertaining to the activity on one ormore policies and/or contracts. Information that may be returned mayinclude the latest known information from any entity involved in theprocess and any steps that remain in the submission of the policiesand/or contracts. For example, if one or more policies are submitted andare undergoing medical evaluation, the activity returned may be anyavailable information from the medical evaluator. Additionally, the nextstep returned, in this case, may be the life expectancy evaluation. Thelife expectancy evaluation may follow the medical evaluation and,therefore, may not have been performed. Accordingly, the next steppresented to a user may be an incomplete life expectancy, along withother incomplete or complete steps. When the status of one or moresubmitted policies and/or contracts is requested, system 1001 may returnknown information pertaining to a medical evaluation, life expectancyevaluation, consistency evaluation, completion of one or more policies'submission, or any combination of the same. Additionally, the system mayreturn and/or list the number of incomplete steps or the steps remainingin the submission.

In alternative embodiments of the invention, each of entities 1010,1060, 1020, 1030, 1040, and 1050 may interact with each other eitherelectronically or otherwise. These types of interactions may eliminatethe need for system 1001 to perform certain operations. For example,individual 1010 or broker 1060 may interact with physician 1020represented by 1023 and 1056 respectively. These interactions mayeliminate the need to submit a physician's name to system 1001.

Additionally, physician 1020 may interact directly with evaluation firm1030 through 1033. This interaction may eliminate the need to submit amedical evaluation to system 1001.

Similarly, evaluation firm 1030 may interact directly with advisor 1040.This may also eliminate the need to provide the system with a lifeexpectancy evaluation.

Advisor 1040 may have access to submit a policy to server 1004represented by interaction 1053. This may eliminate the need for system1001 to submit the policy to server 104 for trading. Similarly, it maybe desired to allow the individual or broker to submit one or morepolicies to server 104 through interactions 1054 and 1055 respectively.The individual or broker may submit one or more of his life insurancepolicies or life settlement contracts independent of the system.

It should be noted that modifications to the interactions and stepsequences may be made to the system by one skilled in the art. However,these modifications may not necessarily depart from the scope and spiritof the claimed invention.

In other embodiments, one or more insurance policies or the beneficialinterest on one or more insurance policies and/or contracts may betraded in an RFQ trading environment. A policyholder may wish todetermine the best selling price of one or more of their policies beforeengaging in a life settlement with a purchaser. In such a situation, thepolicyholder submits one or more policies to server 104. After one ormore policies are submitted to the server, purchasers may view and/orbid on the policy.

Policies that are submitted or listed on the server may have a pluralityof attributes associated with them. Such attributes may include apredetermined time period for which the listings are available(hereinafter “active state”). This predetermined time period may be setby policyholders or current sellers. Setting a particular value for theactive state allows other purchasers to view and/or bid on one or moreparticular policies and/or contracts only while the listing is active.The last bid on one or more policies and/or contracts at the end of theactive state may be the purchase price for one or more policies and/orcontracts. It should be noted that there may be a predetermined timeperiod for the policyholder not to accept the last or highest bid.

Additionally, one or more policy and/or contract listings may have apreset minimum bid amount (“reserve price”). This amount may bepresented to a purchaser. During the time that the listings are activepurchasers place bids. However, if during the active state no bids reachthe minimum amount set for the listings, the policies and/or contractsmay not be purchased.

Options and fields provided in the RFQ trading environment may be set tosuit any requester's trading needs. For example, purchasers andpolicyholders may view the current statistics of one or more policiesand/or contracts on the system. Such statistics may include the highestbid amount, list of bidders, list of bids, date of bids, or anycombination of the same.

Purchasers may browse the available policies and/or contracts in avariety of ways. One such way is performing queries to the databasebased on criteria. Such criteria may include policyholder's age, gender,height, weight, policy amount, highest bid, bid history, time left tobid, race, religion, geographic location, policy date of maturation,insurance company, any combination of previously discussed databasefields, or any combination of the same. One skilled in the art maycreate a variety of other queries without departing from the scope andspirit of the claimed invention.

After a purchaser has identified one or more policies and/or contractsof interest, a bid may be placed. The bid a purchaser places should behigher than the current highest bid amount. If the bid exceeds themaximum bid amount the current bid may become the highest bid on one ormore policies and/or contracts. The system preferably allows purchasersto track their bids on and/or contracts in a similar fashion as thesellers.

In some embodiments, the sellers may decide to end the active state atany period in time. The choice to end the RFQ early may give the currenthighest bidder purchase rights. However, the seller may also cancel anybids on the listings.

At the end of the active state of the listings the highest bidder may begiven information relating to the purchase of one or more policiesand/or contracts. Such information may include the policyholder's name,address, or any combination of the same which may not be availableduring the active state of the listings. The purchaser may then performthe exchange with the policyholder thereby forming the lifesettlement—e.g., exchanging funds to become the beneficiary of one ormore policies and/or contracts.

After creating the life settlement contract the purchaser may decide totrade the beneficial interest on one or more policies and/or contracts.In such a situation the purchaser takes on a similar role as thepolicyholder described previously. In this situation, it may not benecessary for the seller to undergo all the steps in creating a lifesettlement from an insurance policy. Examples of steps that may not benecessary can include medical evaluations, letters or agreements,consistency checks, evaluation of the medical evaluations, or anycombination of the same.

In some situations, the policyholder may wish to rescind the lifesettlement. If this is the case he may do so during a particular timeperiod—i.e., policyholders are given 15 days to rescind any lifesettlement contract. This particular action may in turn cancel the lifesettlement contract.

This method and system provides a way for a policyholder to obtain amaximum bid price for one or more policies and/or contracts. Enablingthe public to view and purchase a plurality of life settlements createsprice transparency which in turn creates liquidity and greatercompetition. The liquidity may increase the bid price for the settlementor other suitable product.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show flow diagrams representing the interactions amongpurchasers and sellers 1100A in the trade and creation of lifesettlements 1100B (and/or life settlement contracts). After all theinteractions described in FIG. 10 are complete and the seller's 1150Aone or more policies and/or contracts are submitted on the system 1170A,represented by 1110A, trading may commence.

Diagrams 1100A and 1100B represent two ways in which purchasers andsellers may interact to trade insurance policies and/or contracts.Diagram 1100A shows a flow diagram in which the seller submits one ormore policies and/or contracts to the system for bidding by thepurchasers. Once bidding has ended the settlement contract is finalized.Alternately, diagram 1100B, shows a flow diagram in which purchasers andsellers trade back and forth. However, the settlement contract in thissituation may not be finalized until a later date.

Initially, a potential purchaser(s) 1160A may view the currentstatistics and relevant information one or more policies and/orcontracts on 1170A, represented by 1130A. If the purchaser(s) isinterested in purchasing one or more policies and/or contracts on system1170A, he may place a bid may be placed 1140A. At a predetermined timeperiod, or after the close of trading as dictated by the seller, seller1150A may end the bidding and the highest bidder among 1160A maypurchase one or more policies and/or contracts. However, during the timethe policy and/or contract is open for bidding, purchaser(s) 1160A maycompete and outbid one an other. For example, if one purchaser places abid of $160,000 for a policy and/or contract on system 1170A, anotherbidder may wish to place a higher bid of $165,000. If the time forbidding has not ended, the initial bidder may choose to raise the bid to$170,000.

After the seller 1110B submits one or more policies and/or contracts tothe system 1120B, the seller may receive bids on one or more policiesand/or contracts for a predetermined time period 1130B and the salecloses after the predetermined period of time has elapsed.Alternatively, after the seller 1110B submits one or more policiesand/or contracts to the system 1120B, the sale may close after anothersuitable termination event 1140B (e.g., the seller accepts a current bidor the seller decides to close the auction). In either case, theprocedure of finalizing the sale may begin after 1130B or 1140B. Itshould be noted that the dotted lines represent suitable alternativepaths from system 1120B to buyer and seller trade 1150B. Alternatively,any other suitable path from system 1120B to buyer and seller trade1150B may be provided.

To finalize the sale, system 1120B may provide the purchaser and sellerwith private information which may be required for creating the lifesettlement contract. Thereafter, the buyer and seller trade 1150B afteragreeing to the terms and conditions set forth, in the settlementcontract.

After the trade is made, further trades may be made between the buyerand seller. After the close of trading, there may or may not be a timeperiod for the seller to rescind the life settlement contract 1160B,thereby canceling the agreement. During this time period, further tradesmay be placed.

Soon after time period to rescind 1160B passes, if the seller does notrescind, the insurance company may process the necessary papers 1180B.In the final step there may be a transfer of ownership of one or morepolicies and/or contracts 1170B. It is this step that completes the saleof one or more insurance policies and/or contracts and enables thepurchaser to further re-sell one or more policies and/or contracts toother purchasers if he so chooses.

In alternative embodiments of the invention, derivative financialinstruments—i.e., financial contracts whose values depend on, and arederived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or indexmay be formed using a life settlement, or a group of life settlements,as the underlying instrument or instruments. For example, a group oflife settlements, each that includes an insured having similarcharacteristics, may be bundled together to form a single instrument.Thereafter, the bundle may be used as the underlying group of assets ofan index. The index may serve as a basis for swaps, forwards, futures,puts, calls, swaptions, caps, floors, collars or any other similarderivative contract. These are only examples of possible embodiments ofthe invention with respect to derivative contracts and should not beunderstood to limit the invention.

Modifications to the system and method may be performed by one skilledin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the claimedinvention.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. An apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory,in which the memory stores instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, direct the processor to: receive a query for a settlementcontract that is available for sale, in which the query is based on atleast one field and the settlement contract comprises a sale of apolicyholder's death benefit in a life insurance policy in exchange formoney; retrieve a first settlement contract that comprises informationmatching the at least one queried field; receive, during apre-determined period of time, a plurality of bids for the firstsettlement contract, in which each of the plurality of bids comprises abid price; determine, that a first bidder has submitted a best bid pricefor the settlement contract; and notify the first bidder and thepolicyholder of an agreement to sell the first settlement contract atthe best bid price.
 23. The apparatus of claim 22, in which the memorystores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct theprocessor to: communicate to a plurality of potential purchasers thatthe first settlement contract is available for purchase.
 24. Theapparatus of claim 22, in which the memory stores instructions which,when executed by the processor, direct the processor to: provide thepolicyholder of the first settlement contract with an opportunity torescind the agreement.
 25. The apparatus claim 24, in which the memorystores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct theprocessor to: receive a request to rescind the agreement; and cancel theagreement.
 26. The apparatus of claim 22, in which the best bid price ishigher than any other bid prices that were received during thepre-determined period of time.
 27. The apparatus of claim 22, in whichthe memory stores instructions which, when executed by the processor,direct the processor to: determine a life expectancy of thepolicyholder; and determine a creditworthiness of an insurance companythat is providing the life insurance policy.
 28. The apparatus of claim27, in which the memory stores instructions which, when executed by theprocessor, direct the processor to: assign a rating to the receivedsettlement contract based on at least the life expectancy of thepolicyholder and the creditworthiness of the insurance company, in whichthe rating determines at least in part a price of the receivedsettlement contract.
 29. The apparatus of claim 27, in which the memorystores instructions which, when executed by the processor, direct theprocessor to: perform a medical evaluation of the policyholder.
 30. Amethod comprising: receiving, from the remote device, a query for asettlement contract that is available for sale, in which the query isbased on at least one field and the settlement contract comprises a saleof a policyholder's death benefit in a life insurance policy in exchangefor money; retrieving, using the processor, a first settlement contractthat comprises information matching the at least one queried field;receiving at the processor, during a pre-determined period of time, aplurality of bids for the first settlement contract, in which each ofthe plurality of bids comprises a bid price; determining, using theprocessor, that a first bidder has submitted a best bid price for thesettlement contract; and notifying, using the processor, the firstbidder and the policyholder of an agreement to sell the first settlementcontract at the best bid price.
 31. The method of claim 30 furthercomprising: communicating to a plurality of potential purchasers thatthe first settlement contract is available for purchase.
 32. The methodof claim 30, further comprising: providing the policyholder of the firstsettlement contract with an opportunity to rescind the agreement. 33.The method of claim 32 further comprising: receiving a request torescind the agreement; and canceling the agreement.
 34. The method ofclaim 30, in which the best bid price is higher than any other bidprices that were received during the pre-determined period of time. 35.The method of claim 30, further comprising: determining a lifeexpectancy of the policyholder; and determining a creditworthiness of aninsurance company that is providing the life insurance policy.
 36. Themethod of claim 35 further comprising: assigning, using the processor, arating to the received settlement contract based on at least the lifeexpectancy of the policyholder and the creditworthiness of the insurancecompany, in which the rating determines at least in part a price of thereceived settlement contract.
 37. The method of claim 35, in which theact of determining the life expectancy of the policyholder furthercomprises: performing a medical evaluation of the policyholder.